Home-Baked Gifts For Valentine's Day'

In a previous blog post, we spoke about ways to make this year’s Valentine’s Day a little bit more special, by creating homemade gifts to give to your loved one or to friends or someone you’re secretly interested in. Creating something unique and tailored to the person you’re giving the gift to is so much more meaningful than just grabbing a bouquet or a box of chocolates in town, or booking a table in a swanky restaurant.

Making something yourself takes time, thought and effort and all of that will be repaid when you give your Valentine’s gift, as the recipient will know that you’ve worked hard to produce something special. In today’s blog post, we look at some more ideas for homemade Valentine’s Day gifts, and in particular, we’re going to cover some home-baked creations to tempt your loved one.

Baking Tins At The Ready

One of the simplest baking ideas for Valentine’s Day is iced cookies. Here’s the recipe:

Cookie Dough Ingredients:

200g unsalted butter
300g plain flour
150g sugar
30ml milk
1 large egg
1tsp vanilla extract
1tsp baking powder

Icing Ingredients:

500gm icing sugar
1/2tsp vanilla essence
20ml water
Gel food colourings

Method:

Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl, until it is fluffy and well-combined. Beat in the egg and then add the vanilla extract and the milk. Slowly add the flour and baking powder, mixing it in as you go.

Divide the dough into two portions, and place in the fridge to chill for at least two hours.

Once chilled, pre-heat the oven to 180°.

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out one portion of the dough onto a clean surface that has been liberally dusted with flour. Use heart-shaped cookie cutters to cut out your cookies and then place them on a baking tin. Repeat with the other half of the cookie dough. Pop the baking tins in the oven for just 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are very lightly browned. In order to get an even colouring on your cookies, turn the baking tins around half way through the cooking time.

Once they are out of the oven, allow the cookies to cool slightly for a few minutes, before transferring them onto a wire rack to cool fully.

When completely cool, mix all of the icing ingredients together, except for the gel colourings. If you want to vary the colours on your cookies, divide the icing into several smaller bowls and then add a few drops of each gel colouring to a bowl. Gently smooth the icing over each cookie and allow to set. If you like, you can then add small messages or emoji faces in a contrasting colour by piping the icing through a fine nozzle.

If you’re ready to give this idea a go for Valentine’s Day, be sure to check out our range of baking equipment so that you have everything you need to hand. As well as a huge range of baking tins, we also stock heart-shaped cookie cutters, and heart-shaped muffin tins, so you can really go to town on your Valentine’s Day baking extravaganza!

Other Baking Ideas For Valentine’s Day

If these cookies have whetted your appetite and you’re keen to do some more baking for Valentine’s Day, then how about going all out and baking a professional-looking naked cake? A three-layer, naked Red Velvet cake is sure to impress, with its rich and indulgent sponge and delicious iced filling.

If you’re wondering what makes a naked cake naked, it’s simply the fact that the outside edges of the cake are left bare, so that you can see the layers and the fillings. Naked cakes are right on trend at the moment, so this option will show off your baking credentials and impress your loved one all at the same time!

Another great baking idea for Valentine’s Day is cupcakes. The sky is the limit when it comes to cupcake creativity, so you can let your inner Star Baker loose and come up with something truly unique that reflects your personality and interests, or those of your loved one. If the thought of designing your own cupcakes takes you too far out of your comfort zone, how about making some chocolate cupcakes bases and then topping them with a rich red or pink cream icing, with perhaps a slice of strawberry on top?

Alternatively, try plain cupcake sponges flavoured with passion fruit, with a light icing top, covered with silver sprinkles. Whatever style of cupcake you choose to bake for your loved one on Valentine’s Day, the important thing is that it will have been made with love - that’s something you just can’t get across with a shop-bought alternative!

Are you planning a Valentine’s Day baking adventure? Be sure to check out our range of baking equipment in plenty of time, and do send in your photos via Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, so we can see your heavenly creations!